A Mind So Broken

You're joking.... Right!?

Vera's POV

I was doing my mind-mending with Manhunter today. It's Friday and gloomy. A big thunderstorm coming. "Alright I want you to lay on the table and just relax your body and mind," Manhunter said and I did so. The table lit up and I started to float. Not very high above it though. Guess that's okay. At least it won't hurt if I fall. I relaxed and felt Manhunter enter my mind. We were floating inside my mind I could see lots of memories and things I've remembered over the years. Like a few of the joker's torture devices, he used all the time. "I want you to take me to the time when you felt yourself disconnect from your ability," he said to me "umm okay. Right.... it would be.... on the anniversary of my kidnapping. The second year I was gone. So there! Right there!" I say as I see the memory of the device he always used on me. Night and day he used it... Manhunter opened the memory to find it scattered. I piece and broken. Just like how I felt. Every day he used that. As I saw the memory over and over as he tried to fix it. The pain. Was so real. I started to fall to my knees hot tears rolling down my face "please. Stop!!! Stop!!!! I'll do it. I'll make the bomb. Just stop!!!" I could hear the old me yell as the joker kept the machine going. I fought of course. I would kick. Scream yell. Beg for it to stop. I'd say I'd build the bomb but he kept going. I got up and tackled Manhunter and forced him to stop. We fell. I off the table onto the ground and he falls back a few feet away. I was on my knees when people came running in. My breath shakey as I stood. Using the table as support. "How did he get that machine," Manhunter asked me as Superman helped him up and Tigress helped to stand better "HOW DID HE GET A MARTIAN DEVICE!?" He yelled "FROM ME!!!  I MADE IT!!! HE FOUND THE BLUEPRINTS FROM YOU!!! And forced me to make it" I yelled back and fell to my knees my legs weak. My body is weak. "How!?" He asked "I don't know. He just handed me the blueprints. No name on it. He told me nothing of what it did. Till he. Till he used it on me. Said he got someone to steal the blueprints from you. " I pant my head hurting so much "what machine!" Bats asked us "it's called Mind Sweeper. It's a Martian device used only in times of need to remove painful memory or more. It hasn't been used in a long time. Nor made... until Joker used it on her. Every day she was there only on the part of her mind that held her ability. " Manhunter said. "Can you fix her?" Bats asked "I cannot do it alone. Megan will need to assist me and we can only do it while Vera is asleep" he says "then do it. " I say before I feel faint.....

•24hrs later•

I gasped for air as I shot up from the table I was on. No. The bed??? I looked around and saw I was in a medical room. Maybe I'm at the hospital? "You're awake" I heard someone say "Richard?" I asked as I looked at him "that's me. How are you feeling" he asked "my head hurts. A lot. But I'm okay. What happened after I fainted?" I asked back "Manhunter and Miss M were able
To get into your mind. They said your mind knew they were there and unlocked itself. Allowed them to do whatever they needed. They said it'll be a few days. But your ability should come back. They re-wired that side that held your ability. And it seemed to be receptive and allow them to do it. So now it's just a matter of time and healing" he said and I felt. Relief. I laid back down and sighed "you know.... if it doesn't work... I think it'll be okay... I mean... I spent my whole life being smart. I had to work so much harder than my brothers because I was a Prodigy. I never got a normal childhood. Ever. So I'm honestly okay if it doesn't work. Maybe then I'll get a break to be normal. " I say as I look at him "you sure about that? you say it now. But will you be okay if it happens like that" he asked "yeah? I'll be okay. I'm still gonna train. I'll busy myself every day. Until I'm okay" I say to him and he nods "how long was I out for?" I asked "24 hours. We let your family know what happened when they started blowing up your phone. " he says "they're scared. I overheard my parents talking about what if I get taken again. If they really should let me out of the house anymore. Even if it is to be with heroes" I say to him. I sit up and swing my legs over the sides of the bed as Richard sat in front of me "if you'd like. I could be your bodyguard if you go anywhere. I'm sure your parents would feel better too. I can get a couple of other members who are in Gotham to look out for you too. Even Bats would help. Well, he'd probably put a tracker on you" he said making me smile "thanks. I'd like that. Not the tracker part though" I laugh out making him smile too. He helped me off the bed and took me out of the room to the main living room slash kitchen area. "HEY!!! Vera's back!!" I heard Beast Boy day before rushing to me and picking me up I'm a hug and spinning me making me giggle "wow hi! That's welcome for sure" I say and laugh Megan and Artemis came and hugged me too. So did Impulse AKA Bart and Conner. I haven't met all of the team members but I'm sure I will. "Good morning Vera" I hear Superman ask and I smile Good morning.? What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning...or do you mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not? Or perhaps you mean to say that you feel good on this particular morning? Or are you simply stating
that this is a morning to be good on? Hm?" I asked back and I froze. So did everybody else. I haven't said something like that before my taking. "Did you. What did? How???" Bart asked "I haven't said something like that... since before my taking....." I say softly my hand over my mouth in shock "so. Wait. Dow that means. The mind thingy worked!?" Gar asked and I smiled looking at Megan who was looking very happy "I think it has!!! Say something smart!" Megan said and o thought of an old math problem "The population of a country increased by an average of 2% per year from 2000 to 2003. If the population of this country was 2 000 000 on December 31, 2003, then the population of this country on January 1, 2000, to the nearest thousand would have been.......  1 846 000!!! It's would have been  1 846 000 !!" I said happily oh how I missed this! Everyone was so happy for me. I thanked Megan a million times before I left and told her to thank her uncle for me too.

At home, I told my parents how it worked. How I was back to normal. They were of course happy for me. But told me to lie low and just relax. Which I was surprised with.
I sat at my desk. Books scattered around my room. Papers everywhere by now are littered with equations and numbers writings in different languages mathematics and science stuff all of it flooding into my head. As I was reading a book images of a weird red orb with a woman changing forms inside it kept flashing in my head. I started to draw it. The images became clearer and I could see the orb was a machine. A machine that could make you change your appearance like what Megan and Gar and Manhunter can do. I smiled as I worked out everything. The formulas. The math. The science. I knew I'd have to study Megan's blood. And her powers. And well everything that makes her. though i do wonder what this means... maybe Miss Matrian and Manhunter unlocked soething new within my head... maybe i can talk to them about it... Manhunter seems to know alot of about weird machines.. maybe he knows abotu this.......

******EDITED OCT.11 th 2022******